Deep Fried Dub – Slow Cooked

Dubmission

Deep Fried Dub are on a bass mission to quiver the livers of all who enter to within a five kilometre radius of ground zero around their bass bins, it would seem; because every track on Slow Cooked, whether presented in rootsier style, teched-up or given the dubstep wobbleover is a binshaker of the highest quality. Breakbeats and stepping rhythms are flavoured with horns, skanking guitars and fragments of vocals of an expectedly euphoric, raggamuffin and/or Rastafied variety (though sometimes the robots get to have their voices heard too, as on “Condensor”). This is music square-wavedly aimed at the dancefloor – which probably should be reinforced, as should the supporting walls – if the amount on bass to be heard just on a home stereo is anything to judge by.

Whether depth-charged or filtered into nuclear frissons of low end, the tones and pulses on offer here are exquisitely paced to quake and shake the head-nodding, low-swinging dancefloor, with production values set to do so with precision (though some may find the sound a little too crisp and clear). When provoking a spring in the step (“Ivory towers,” home to some fine electric organ, funky squelch lead and melodica lines), a housey lope from foot to foot (“KAOS”) or a knee-trembling wobble (“100 IRE”), the tunes on Slow Cooked succeed admirably not just as floorfillers but will doubtless keep the tokers on a blissed-out plane too, melodies and percussion hits intertwining in echo arrays to drag the consciousness off on introspective meanders, with or without the aid of herbal remedies.

It’s no wonder that producers Ben Hartley and Ben Dudding were movers and shakers (lots of that for certain) on first the Auckland and now Melbourne party scenes – Slow Cooked is a superb addition from the Southern hemisphere to the electronic dub canon. While maybe not breaking much new ground as far as it goes, it solidifies their reputation as purveyors of the finest digi-dub available.

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